“I was looking at the health of the company, just a dozen different metrics, how are users liking it, where is the product at, and everything was just kind of a mediocre success. So I wasn’t as excited going in, I was like, can I really see myself doing this for another year.”

The big problem with StickyBits, said Mr. Chasen, was that it never found a way to get traction among users. “I had this huge missed connection how I thought things would run with brands. I thought we would deliver this awesome app that brands would use and they deliver the crowd. But really brands wanted to test it, and asked us to bring the crowd. So it was a Catch-22.”

Turntable was the top idea on his list of companies Mr. Chasen thought would try to build at some point in his life. But he admits the decision to completely change course was still terrifying. “Knowing what the signs are and how to recognize them, so you don’t become a walking dead startup, is really important.

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